Lusaka Street vendors advised to be patient with allocation of trading space

Lusaka Mayor His Worship Wilson Kalumba
Lusaka City Council Mayor Wilson Kalumba has urged squatting City Market Street Vendors to be patient with the allocation of trading space.

The Mayor said that the street vendors who were removed from the streets should wait on government to allocate them trading space as it is a challenging time for the nation.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS, Mr. Kalumba said that four thousand trading spaces will be allocated to the street vendors who have no trading space.

He said government has put in place measures to ensure that the street vendors who have no trading space at city market get trading space at BH Soweto by the end of this month.

Mr. Kalumba said government is working on finishing the new Simon Mwewa Market which is likely to be completed in the range of four months and will accommodate a good number of street vendors.

Recently, street vendors have been worried about where they are going to be trading from since the cleaning campaign started in the country.

Meanwhile, the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) says plans to put up a temporal structure for fruits and vegetables on a wholesale have advanced.

Speaking in an interview with ZANIS in Lusaka today ZNFU Committee Chairperson for Fruits and Vegetables Maria Zaloumis said farmers will start trading at the temporal site in the next two weeks, until the cholera epidemic is contained.

Ms. Zaloumis said a temporal shelter near Tokyo way and Shoprite wholesale area has been identified as a suitable place for trading.

She said the Committee is working closely with the Lusaka City Council and the Ministry of Local Government and Housing to see to it that the place is fit for trading.

Ms. Zaloumis said paving of the area has already started so as to ensure that the farmers are not inconvenienced once they start operating.

She said issues of hygiene have also been looked into, adding that toilets have been secured, and running water will also be put in place.

Ms. Zaloumis said the market will only be opened once all the necessary sanitary requirements are looked into.

She said there has been huge quantities of fresh produce going to waste due to lack of alternative markets where they could offload their commodities.

Ms. Zaloumis who called on farmers to exercise patience also thanked government for responding swiftly to the concerns raised by the agro farmers.

Last week the ZNFU told government that there has been huge quantities of fresh produce going to waste due to lack of alternative markets where they could offload their commodities in the wake Cholera.

I wish a structured trading policy and plan were to be put in place right now while the situation allows. We don’t need street vendors and dirty markets. Ensure running water at markets and market toilets. Enforce the laws so that the mind set or mental paradigm can change. There’s too much lawlessness in Zambia.

It took Cholera epidemic to force the entire government to start talking about how to deal with street vending. As usual, it took rioting marketeers to get the mayor to come out and talk.
Both have something in common – Reactive and not being Proactive. These are things these guys should have informed the public. Should have said: We have banned street vending for now and we plan to do this and that..by that date. This would have prevented all those riots both kwa kanyama in City Centre.
The riots were basically caused because of insecurity as people did not know what to expect the following day when their breadwinner had been taken away.Lack of managing stakeholders expectation.

@Jay Jay,… Your honor, …I’ve never seen this lazy mayor before, until the Cholera outbreak. You can only see someone who is actively outdoors working–not a guy who’s always asleep, snoring in his office. So, your honor, I deny those charges. I didn’t vote for this lazy mayor.

We have a lot of friends here who were making plans to travel to Zambia this summer. Hopefully, the ugly sights will be gone by then. As for the vendors, they just have to wait until the epidemic is contained. Why should the livelihood of a few vendors be more important than the safety of the entire population?

Kabwata, Libala, Chilenje, Rhodes Park, Woodlands, Olympia… great places and great times because that’s where I grew up and went to school. I’ m not a sellout and I’m not mad to forget where I came from.

Kalumba, Kalumba, where have you been? Do you realise that one and half years has elapsed and Lusaka has has been going from bad to worse whilst you hold that title?
Now that most your major work has been ably handled by the intervention of HE excellence President Lungu, the least you can do is:
1. Ask shop owners to star paving the frontage of their trading areas.
2. Ensure you standardise building paints for CBD, it’s very annoying to have rainbow colours in the heart of Lusaka
3. Take advantage of the happenings and put road markings with high quality paints
4. Start sweeping the streets as early as 4 o’clock in the morning to sustain the cleanliness campaign
5. Work closely with Lusaka Water to ensure the is constant water supply in public institutions especially bus stops,…

The whole PF GRZ is guilty of mass dereliction of duty and most massive corruption boadering on economic sabotage , that is why the corrupt fraud convict theif in state house will hold no One accountable for the deaths and suffering of poor Zambians……no accountability what so ever with this theif.

Some koswe rat said lungu is the only president to get regular reports and updates from ministries ……it seems those reports and updates are for the sole purpose of stealing by indentifiying tenders to over inflate……

As long as people like this guy, local government minister and Lungu himself still have their jobs, Lusaka will always be filthy and a breeding ground for diseases like cholera.

The fact they have not resigned or fired says it all.

Meanwhile what will the vendors eat while they have the ‘patience’? Is government going to assist them with cash for them to survive on while they wait? Brace for more discontent… I said the other day, a hungry person is willing to die to get food (it’s a natural involuntary reaction).

That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all,
Without regard to status
Dis a corruption an cholera….

That until that day
The dream of lasting development,
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued,
But never attained –
Now everywhere is corruption, mismangment, filth and cholera…

Let those vendors who do not have space in the markets to trade from go back home to their villages to till the land. These are the same people who live in slums that are a breeding ground for deadly diseases. People in the village are better off

This is your legacy Mr Kalumba.
You can still redeem this sh!t position.
BUT YOU MUST ACT AND BE SEEN TO TAKE CHARGE.
FIGHT FOR YOUR PEOPLE AND CITY IMAGE.
Do not accept title of Cholera Kalumba.
Put long term measures to prevent cholera from ever infesting Lusaka again.
Do not be another hyena or koswe or kolwe, please.

But mwebantu, those who vend are not subhuman. They are just trying to feed and educate their children like you and I. Let’s not throw away the baby with the bath water. These are just people like you and me. Some are educated but can’t find jobs. We seem to be hell bent looking down on them. It could be you tomorrow.